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During today's Senate hearing on Hurricane Sandy's impact on transportation systems, some daunting numbers have been presented.

Among them is the $500 million price tag New York Senator Chuck Schumer said is the cost to repair the South Ferry-Whitehall subway station in lower Manhattan, which was totally flooded.

The South Ferry-Whitehall station opened in 2009, the first large mass transit project undertaken in lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001.

The station, which cost $527 million to build, is especially vulnerable to flooding caused by tidal surges: It is eight stories below ground and just 400 feet from the river, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

In his testimony at the hearing, MTA Commissioner Joe Lhota said the station "was completely destroyed."

Overall, it will cost an estimated $5 billion to repair the damage Sandy did to New York City's mass transit system, which serves 8.5 million people every day.